My yellow tang has Septicemia - help

[South City]

My yellow tang is showing signs of Septicemia. He has red splotches along the base of his fins and on the side of his body. For the moment at least, he is showing no other signs of illness and is eating well and behaving normally.

I want to begin treating this as quickly as possible. I have some Furan 2 on hand at the house and a box of Kanaplax which is a Kanamycin based treatment will be arriving tomorrow via UPS. I've heard that Kanamycin works wonders with Septicemia but I'd prefer to start treatment this evening which means using the Furan 2.

One final bit of information, it will be impossible to catch the tang and put him in a hospital tank. I'd have to tear my whole tank apart to get him out which I can't do right now. So, I'll have to treat him in the display tank which contains other fish, a diverse mix of corals, and quite a few different invertebrates.

Here are my questions. Can Furan 2 be just as effective in treating Septicemia as Kanaplax(Kanamycin)? How much do I need to worry about crashing the biological filter by introducing an antibiotic to the display tank? Between the two of them, does either Furan 2 or Kanaplax have a reputation for being safer when added directly to the display tank?

 

[South City]

Probably should have posted this under the Fish Disease sub forum. Going to copy this over there too. Didn't notice it was there until just now.

 

[kegogut]

How did this turn out for you?

 

[South City]

I got the KanaPlex and started treating him 3 days ago. Since I couldn't get him into a hospital tank and didn't want to risk wiping out my bio filter by treating the display tank at a full dose, I decided to treat his food. That way the little guy gets some of the antibiotic into his system and the carbon reactor should remove any of the medicine that makes it into the water column pretty quickly.

The tang seems to be doing slightly better. The red splotches that had grown to cover big parts of his body, have started to get a bit smaller today. He's still eating well and behaving normally. If it wasn't for the big red splotches and lines, it would be hard to tell he's sick at all.

It's looking good that he'll pull through. Thanks for asking.

 

[South City]

(white spots are on the glass...not the fish!)

(action shot while swimming pretty fast)

 

[South City]

After 5 days of treating his food with Kanaplex and Focus, he seems to have recovered completely. The red is all but gone. I'm glad the little guy made it. He and his Pygmy Angel buddy can get back to running the tank.